Month: October 2024

SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.com

We will just start the column off with this meme. Because we can.

Tennis and Soccer playoffs begin next week. It is that time of year again, and that means a lot of excitement is coming.

Before we get into fall sports, there is ice at the Crookston Sports Center so we will pass along the new Thief River Falls Prowlers Boys Hockey program after long-time coach (a great coach and guy) Tim Bergland has resigned and Kyle Anderson has been hired. I am sure a lot of coaches are happy to see Coach Bergland leave, but Kyle should do a great job to0.

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The Section 8A Girls Tennis tournament seeding meeting will be held on Friday in Mahnomen. The seeding process shouldn’t be too difficult, as most of the seeds seem to be pretty cut and dry, but the interesting thing will come from an issue that has arisen with one of the teams and their lineup……or change of lineup after they were submitted, which can’t be done.
I have heard from some Section coaches (not Crookston) that there is an issue with one of the team’s line-ups, and it was sent out three days after the line-ups were turned in. So, the seeding meeting will be more interesting than it should be.

Teams have to submit three ETHICAL line-ups by a certain date. This year, it was last Monday. You cannot change the lineups after they have been submitted, no matter what. This way coaches can look at the line-ups and see if they are ethical or not. If the coaches have a problem with the lineup they bring it up before, or at the seeding meeting and coaches can decide if it is or not.

I know for sure five schools are ticked off at this. That is a majority to vote to not allow the team to play for breaking the rules. If the coaches want to send a message, they could. But I don’t think they will punish kids for adults not doing things the right way.

Here is how the seeding should probably go in my eyes.
1. Perham (They beat Crookston, TRF, Staples-Motley)
2 and 3. Crookston or Thief River Falls (it really doesn’t matter which way because they would play each other in the semis if they are able to win a challenging first-round match). They split in the two duals, with Crookston winning the second meeting and Crookston was without one girl in the first meeting.
4. Staples-Motley
5. Park Rapids
6. East Grand Forks
7. Wadena-Deer Creek
8. Roseau
9. Parkers Prairie

Crookston and Thief River Falls are the teams I am putting all my money on. Whoever wins that match will win the championship. They play BY-FAR the toughest schedules of the teams in the section.

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Minnesota-scores.net has released the QRF rankings for volleyball. The area section rankings are below.

Section 6 9-Person Football

Not much has changed in the section, with Fertile-Beltrami and Fosston fighting for the top seed. I think it is safe to say that Fertile-Beltrami will be the top seed if they win out, like most think they will. Fertile-Beltrami and Fosston don’t play each other, so it is possible that both teams could be undefeated. The big reason why #1 is important is the semi-final game will be a tough one with Park Christian looking like they will be the third seed. One and two seeds will get a first round bye.

Team	Section	Overall	QRF Value	QRF Rank
Fertile-Beltrami	1-0	5-0	32.5	1
Fosston	1-0	5-0	28.7	7
Park Christian	1-1	4-1	19.3	22
Clearbrook-Gonvick	1-1	1-4	8.1	44
Blackduck	0-0	1-4	8.0	45
NCE/U-H	0-2	0-5	4.4	54

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Section 8 9-Person Football

Section 8 9-Person is a two-team race for the top spot with two 5-0 teams. Goodridge/Grygla and Stephen-Argyle are both undefeated through five weeks. The teams will play next week, Thursday, October 10, at Grygla, and that will be for the top seed. A playoff before the playoffs. The fight for the third seed is going to be interesting in the final three games of the regular season. Win-E-Mac and Kittson County Central play in the final week of the regular season, and that will likely be for the third seed.

Team	Section	Overall	QRF Value	QRF Rank
Goodridge/Grygla	3-0	5-0	30.4	4
Stephen-Argyle	3-0	5-0	23.9	13
Win-E-Mac	1-1	2-3	16.9	27
Kittson Co. Central	2-1	2-3	14.2	34
Badger/G-MR	1-2	2-3	10.7	42
Warren-Alvarado-Oslo	0-3	1-4	8.5	43
Northern Freeze	0-3	0-5	4.6	53

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Section 8A Football

Mahnomen-Waubun will be the top seed after beating Ada-Borup-West, and this past week, they beat Red Lake County by a point! The second seed is still up for grabs, and it is between Ada-Borup-West and Red Lake County. The two teams will play Friday, October 11 so we will know who the top three seeds will be on October 12.
Actually, we will know the top five seeds because Bagley beat Polk County West, so we will know everything but the final two seeds after week seven. For some reason, Cass Lake-Bena and Red Lake don’t play each other. This is exactly the reason why I think the District scheduling is the dumbest thing ever. Why in the world doesn’t Cass Lake-Bena and Red Lake play each other???????? How can this happen? Do we not have a brain, a care in the world for the kids, or what? So Red Lake and Cass Lake-Bena playing Cherry is better than the Red Lake playing Cass Lake-Bena.

Team	Section	Overall	QRF Value	QRF Rank
Mahnomen/Waubun	4-0	5-0	46.9	3
Ada-Borup-West	2-1	4-1	35.7	13
Red Lake County	1-1	4-1	32.6	18
Bagley	1-2	2-3	20.9	26
Polk County West	1-3	1-4	11.3	47
Cass Lake-Bena	0-0	0-5	4.2	57
Red Lake	0-2	0-5	2.2	58

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Section 8AA Football

Barnesville is the top seed, and everybody (well, three teams) is playing for second place. Actually, the second seed could be decided on Friday night as Hawley takes on Pelican Rapids. If Hawley wins that game, they will be the second seed because they also beat Park Rapids. if Pelican Rapids wins, we will likely have to wait until the final game of the regular season as Pelican Rapids and Park Rapids will play each other.
Frazee and Roseau play this Friday, so the winner will be at least a fifth seed. The loser is guaranteed to be no lower than the sixth seed.
The battle for the seventh seed will also be on Friday as Crookston and Warroad play. The winner won’t have to play Barnesville in the first round of the playoffs. The loser will have to play Barnesville in the first round. More importantly, the winner will get its first win of the year. To say it is a big game for both teams is an understatement.

Team	Section	Overall	QRF Value	QRF Rank
Barnesville	4-0	5-0	60.9	1
Hawley	3-1	3-2	38.9	20
Pelican Rapids	3-1	4-1	37.7	21
Park Rapids Area	3-1	3-2	30.8	24
Roseau	1-3	2-3	24.3	31
Frazee	2-2	2-3	20.0	37
Warroad	0-4	0-5	7.9	51
Crookston	0-4	0-5	6.2	53

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Section 8AAA Football

We have a battle for the top seed with Fergus Falls and Morris Area as both teams are undefeated and within point-02 points of eachother. The top seed will be known on the final week of the season as Fergus Falls hosts Morris Area on Wednesday, October 16.
East Grand Forks was upset by Thief River Falls last week and now the Green Wave’s game against Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton becaomes even more important on Thursday, October 10. That will probably be for the third seed.

Team	Section	Overall	QRF Value	QRF Rank
Fergus Falls	3-0	5-0	72.9	4
Morris Area/CA	2-0	5-0	72.7	5
East Grand Forks	1-2	3-2	35.1	25
Dilworth-Glyndon-F	1-2	2-3	33.8	26
Thief River Falls	1-2	1-4	22.8	36
Perham	0-2	1-4	19.6	42

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Congratulations to Camille Costello of Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton recorded her 1,000th career dig this week.

— — —

The NCAA has announced the D-1 Men’s Hockey Regional hockey locations for the 2027 and 2028 tournaments and Fargo has been named for both years. I am still surprised Fargo continues to get the tournaments in such a small arena.
2027 regionals: Fargo, Loveland, Colo., Bridgeport, Conn., Springfield, Mass.
2028 regionals: Fargo, Sioux Falls, S.D., Allentown, Pa., Rochester, N.Y.

The Frozen Four will be in Washington D.C. in 2027 and in Chicago in 2028.

The NCAA Women’s Hockey Frozen Four will be held in Duluth at Amsoil Arena in 2027 and at Fairfield, Connecticut in 2028.

U.S. Bank Stadium will be hosting the first and second rounds of the 2027 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament. And it will host the NCAA Wrestling Championships in 2028.

— — —

The Big Ten Men’s Basketball pre-season poll has been released and it comes as no surprise that the Gophers are at the bottom by a long shot.
1. Purdue, 572 (20)
2. Indiana, 549 (7)
3. UCLA, 510 (2)
4. Illinois, 458 (2)
5. Michigan State, 448 (1)
6. Oregon, 412
7. Rutgers, 391
8. Ohio State, 369 (1)
9. Michigan, 342
10. Maryland, 263
11. Iowa, 249
T-12 Wisconsin, 212
T-12 Nebraska, 21
14. USC, 196
15. Washington, 158
16. Northwestern, 153
17. Penn State, 87
18. Minnesota, 62

— — —

JOKES

Little Nancy was in the garden filling in a hole when her neighbor peered over the fence. Interested in what the cheeky-faced youngster was up to, he politely asked, “What are you doing there, Nancy?” 
“My goldfish died,” replied Nancy tearfully without looking up, “and I’ve just buried him.”

The neighbor was very concerned. “That’s an awfully big hole for a goldfish, isn’t it?”

Nancy patted down the last heap of dirt then replied, “That’s because he’s inside your fricking cat.”

— —

Q: What’s the difference between light and hard?

A: You can sleep with a light on.

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How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST. Email me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com

Carter Coauette is a freshman playing football at Minot State.

Isabelle Smith is a freshman playing Tennis at Concordia College.

Isaac Thomforde is a freshman playing Tennis at Northwestern College in St. Paul.

Emilee Tate is a Sophomore playing Softball at Northland Community and Technical College.

Halle Bruggeman is a Sophomore on the University of Wisconsin-Stout Women’s Rugby team.

Ethan Boll is a Red-shirt Freshman on the University of North Dakota Football team.

Breanna Kressin is a Junior on the Hockey Cheer Team for THE University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey team.

Emma Osborn is a Junior playing basketball at the University of Minnesota Crookston.

Jacey Larson is a Sophomore playing hockey at Dakota College at Bottineau.

Aleah Bienek is a Junior playing hockey at Trine University in Indiana.

Joslynn Leach is a Senior playing golf at Concordia College in Moorhead. The Cobbers wrapped up the Fall season.

Brady Butt is a Senior playing football at the University of Jamestown.

Brooks Butt is a Junior playing football at the University of Jamestown.

Ty Hamre is redshirt Junior playing football at Bemidji State University.

Elizabeth Erdman is a coach for the Moorhead Red Dragon swim team.

Crookston School District Coaches
Ben Parkin is the head Pirate Baseball Coach.
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Marley Melbye is an assistant girls golf coach
Jeff Perreault is the Pirate Girls Golf head coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Sam Melbye is the Pirate Boys J.V. Hockey coach
Chris Dufault is a youth wrestling Coach

Non-Crookston High School coaching/Admin/etc

Elise Tangquist is the Head Girls Golf Coach at Horace High School in Fargo, ND.

Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson is the head Little Falls Volleyball coach.

Tim Desrosier is an Assistant Coach for Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Pony Boys Basketball

Pat Wolfe is the head wrestling coach for Fosston/Bagley.

Austin Sommerfeld is an Assistant Athletic Director for Strategic Communication at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth.

Collin Reynolds is the head baseball coach for the University of Colorado Buffalo Club Baseball team.

Trent Stahlecker is a School Security Specialist & he works for the Brevard Public Schools, Florida.

Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown.

Josh Edlund is the head football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.

Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach at Champlin Park

Jeff Olson is the Head Wrestling Coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.

Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.

Matt Harris is an Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Marty Bratrud is the Superintendent and High School Principal at Westhope High School.

Gordie Haug is an assistant football coach at the University of Wyoming.

Mike Hastings is the Wisconsin Badgers Men’s head Hockey coach.

Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Grand Forks Schools.

Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football, volleyball, and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for Bison media relations.

Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College.

Chris Myrold is the Director and Fitness at Mission Ranch and Fitness in Camel, California.

Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis

Ben Andringa is serving our country in the Army and is now a Ranger.

Jarrett Butenhoff is serving our country with the U.S. Navy.

Joshua Butenhoff is serving our country on a Submarine with the Pacific Fleet with the US Navy.

Peter Cournia is a 2002 Crookston High School Graduate and a grad of West Point and currently serving in the U.S. Army.

Philip Kujawa class of 2004, from Crookston High School. He is an Army recruiter in Rochester.

Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome

That’s it for this week. Thanks for the comments, and if you have anything to add or share, please e-mail chrisjfee@yahoo.com or call. Thanks for reading and listening to KROX RADIO and kroxam.com.

The post SPORTS FEEVER – October 2, 2024 first appeared on KROX.

The Crookston Pirate Boys Soccer team lost to Bemidji 3-0 at KROX Radio Stadium in Crookston Wednesday..

FIRST HALF –

The Lumberjacks started with the ball and started to set their attack. The tempo began slowly as the ball floated between the defenders for a minute before space opened on the sideline. Isaac Stone was quickly fed the ball, which gave Bemidji their first chance in scoring position. The Pirate defense held up, and Crookston was able to advance the ball over midfield. A penalty on the Lumberjacks gave Crookston a free kick from about 30 yards out, but the attempt from Jack Everett sailed just above the net. Moments later, Bemidji would make it back to their side of the field. a throw-in from Reed Johnson in the third minute set the Lumberjacks in scoring position. Austin Riewer came out of a crowd of defenders with the ball and fed a wide open Isaac Stone for the first goal of the afternoon. “We left a guy wide open, and Reggie’s not going to stop that since that’s just tough to stop,” said Pirates head coach Lon Boike, Minutes later, the Lumberjacks were able to sustain possession in their offensive third. Riewer would make a goal of his own on a cross-net kick following the pass from Jeron Heuseby near the sideline in the 12th minute. Bemidji snuck a third goal through the net in the 23rd minute, when a corner kick to Reed Johnson was sent across the net to Stone, who knocked it through off a header. “They were crashing guys coming in from that side and we didn’t do a good job boxing out,” said Boike The Crookston defense was able to tighten up for the rest of the half, and the offense was able to make it to the other side of the field a few times. The Pirates were only able to fire four shots, most of which were long and off target.

SECOND HALF –

Crookston kicked off the second half, but it was Bemidji who was able to possess the ball for the majority of the final frame. The strategy for th Lumberjacks was primarily to play keep-away, but take the open shots if they came. The smooth Lumebrjack passing caught several Crookston midfielders out of position, resulting in shots. Reggie Winjum saw over 25 shots in the game, and made 10 saves in the second half. Crookston’s defense was disciplined and contested many more shot attempts from Bemidji, causing many to sail out of bounds or go back the other way. “Our strategy was to keep it as low scoring as we can,” commented Boike, “but we worked very hard and kids held their formation very well.” Offensively, the Pirates had little rhythm, as they were only able to cross midfield a couple of times. Jay Reese had a breakaway late, but the closing speed of Lumberjack defender Levi Renn quickly stopped the possession.

Crookston finishes the regular season with a 9-6 record, and will have a few days off before next week’s playoff game.

	1st	2nd	Final
Bemidji	3	0	3
Crookston	0	0	0

Scoring –
3:21 – BHS – Isaac Stone (Austin Riewer)
12:32 – BHS – Austin Riewer (Jeron Heuseby)
23:50 – BHS – Isaac Stone (Reed Johnson)

SAVES	1	2	Final
Reggie Winjum – Crookston	6	10	26
Dashiel Hiller – Bemidji	1	0	1

The post Pirate Boys Soccer falls to Bemidji, 3-0 first appeared on KROX.